Myself and another member are looking to start a Metal Casting Group and we're looking for more members. I know there are several other members that have done casting in the past, we'd really like you to join us or at least lend us your knowledge. We're probably going to start with aluminum, but I hope to work up to maybe steel and some alloys, but we'll see how it goes.

I believe we have several small foundries and burners available, with more in the works, I think we need crucibles and handling tools, though.

Last year I had contacted a couple local foundries about acquiring some of their used green sand and was told to bring a bucket or a truck and take as much as I wanted. I'll have to get in touch with them and make sure the offer is still open.

One of the things I'm excited to try is using my 3D printer to create lost investment moulds.

I cast using aluminum years ago using styrofoam and sand. I've been thinking of trying some things in pewter more recently, but am not sure where one would get the pewter. I have some of that PVA filament for my 3-D printer that dissolves in water/steam. So I was thinking of trying that to make a cast. I've also done some lost wax casting in the past. I wonder if it is possible to rig up a 3D printer to print using wax?

- Doug

P.S. I can tell you that this TC Maker Forum has fallen into almost no use by the members. Almost no one uses it or posts on here anymore. Not sure why that is.

Thanks for posting. I know most members don't come here anymore, but I'd really like to try and turn that around. Where else can you find pertinent topics in an easily laid out format? Or, maybe folks don't have that much to say? I find that hard to believe.

I'm interested in learning more about the PVA filament, might be a good solution. Some of the videos I've seen have used PLA and then 45 minutes of melting it out over the foundry before doing the pour. For wax I would think one could design a heated tube and plunger setup and a chilled environment.

There must be a supplier of pewter locally. I want to start out with some really basic casting and get comfortable with doing the pours then I'll start expanding into the 3d printed investment casting.

We can get green sand from several of the foundries around town. I don't have a crucible, and I'd like to get a better working burner than the one I have. I think Steve's foundry, though huge, has a crucible. Maybe I can whack one together out of some steel pipe and a bit of plate. My foundry is only really for aluminum.

I'd still like to have a meet up and see if we can get something going. It's been far too long since I last spoke to anyone about this.